Category: Women’s Ordination

This started out as a reflection on Mother’s Day. I had begun thinking about the Church as Mother, and my own role as a mother, and was just piecing a lot of those thoughts together when I began to process the anti-abortion laws currently being voted on and passed in several states in the U.S.…
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At the first Roman Catholic Women Priests ordinations on the St. Lawrence River in Gananoque, Quebec, I was so happy. But when the big moment came, all the news photographers there stood up and got their pictures, totally blocking my view. I thought of the irony of it all – I had been working for…
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We know who they are! They are even “on parade” on Holy Thursday and Ordination Day at the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul in Philadelphia! They censor our rituals; they kill the joy of our celebrations by denying access, based solely on gender, to ministry and, most egregiously, to a holy Sacrament. They do…
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Why is it that only the “no” votes matter? That change can be put off because not everybody agrees? Not to decide is to decide, the mantra of Pope Francis when it comes to us. Once again, women are revealed as the third rail of the church. You’ll be executed if you touch it, so…
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A church community in Greenwich Village in New York City recently hosted an art installation. One of the “pieces” was a makeshift confessional. It was painted white and softly curtained. A screen cutout in decorated shapes both beautifully welcomed and separated speaker and listener. Those entering were not there to “confess” in any traditional sense.…
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It’s nearly May. It’s gorgeous outside…and for once we just need to laugh and be joyous! Here is something you may have seen before, but it always makes me laugh out loud. It’s originally from Dr. David M. Scholer, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn’t Be Ordained 10. A…
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Nothing, based on our experience Thursday as guests in a class for a course called “Catholic Philadelphia: Then and Now.” Maureen Tate of the Grail and SEPA WOC and I were asked to speak on the local woman priest movement by a woman professor in this area school run by a men’s religious order. Every…
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How broken is your heart? Mine certainly is. I’m speaking, of course, about the burning of the central part of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. As probably many of you, I loved the Cathedral: its position in the center of that most exquisite city; its romantic presence and Gothic majesty; and, yes, the tribute I…
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THIS IS HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN!HOLY THURSDAY WITNESSAPRIL 18, 2019 at 11:00AM Sister Cities Park, 18th & JFK Parkway(Across from Sts. Peter & Paul Basilica)Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Remember that song from the Sixties, “Stop, in the name of Love!”? Don’t you sometimes want to sing it, shout it, pray it, from the rafters of your…
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Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your thoughtful and thought-provoking responses to my March 26 blog post quandary over the choice for the theme for our annual Holy Thursday Witness for the Ordination of Women across from the Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul in Philadelphia (at 9am if you care to join us…
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